Rick Rashid, developer of Mach System, joins Microsoft as Director of Research

Business Wire

September 4, 1991

REDMOND, Wash. -- Richard Rashid, professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, has been named to the new position of director of research for Microsoft Corp.

Rashid, 39, has most recently been director of the Mach operating system project at Carnegie. Mach is an experimental operating system kernel that has been used as a technology base for commercial products offered by the Open Software Foundation, NeXT and several other companies. Mach is also in widespread use for advanced research projects in corporate and university research laboratories all over the world.

Rashid, who will start immediately, reports to Nathan Myhrvold, vice president of advanced technology and business development.

``Microsoft has a vision for personal computing in the 1990s,'' said Myhrvold. ``To realize this vision we must make computing accessible to every individual, integrating new forms of personal computers into people's lives. This will require fundamental innovations in operating systems, user interface, communications and other branches of computer science. Rick's experience and background will guide our research agenda in those areas, and help us build a world-class research organization.''

Technical Advisory Board Also Formed

Microsoft also announced the formation of a Technical Advisory Board, whose role will be to provide advice on the research agenda. The initial board members announced today include:

C. Gordon Bell, who has held many important roles in the computer industry, including vice president of research and development for Digital Equipment Corp., founder and Chief Scientist at Stardent Computer, and founder of Encore Computer Co. Bell will chair the advisory board.

John Hennessy is Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering and Director of the Center for Integrated Systems at Stanford University. Hennessy is co-founder of MIPS Computer Systems. He has won several industry awards and was recently elected an IEEE Fellow.

Edward Lazowska is a Professor or Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington. The University of Washington's Department of Computer Science and Engineering is ranked among the top 10 computer science programs in the country.

Douglas Lenat is Principal Scientist at Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC). He was previously a Professor in the Computer Science Departments of Carnegie and Stanford. Lenat was named one of America's brightest scientists under the age of 40 in the December 1984 issue of Science Digest.

Dr. Raj Reddy is Professor of Computer Science and Acting Dean for the School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University and Director of CMU's Robotics Institute. Reddy received the Legion of Honor from President Mitterand of France in 1984.

Other board members are expected to be named at a later date.

``These are first-class researchers, who have a wealth of experience which will be invaluable to us,'' said Myhrvold. ``You can't do effective research in a vacuum; you have to have ties with the research community as a whole, and the board will help us make these ties.''

Research Group Formed Recently

Microsoft announced the formation of its research group in July. It is charged with exploring advanced technologies to help extend the reach of personal computing technology. Rashid's initial mission will be to develop the agenda for the research group and to recruit key personnel.

In addition to operating systems, Rashid's research interests have been in the areas of artificial intelligence, networking, and multiprocessing. He has published papers in the areas of computer vision, operating systems, programming languages for distributed processing, network protocols, and communication security. He co-authored the first networked Star Trek game for the Xerox Alto.

Rashid has also been involved in the design and implementation of the University of Rochester RIG operating system, the Rochester Virtual Terminal Management System, the CMU Distributed Sensor Network Testbed, and CMU's SPICE distributed personal computing environment.

Rashid has a B.A. with honors in mathematics from Stanford University, and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Rochester.

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